‘It’s architects who manage resources: we choose what we build buildings out of’
Last month architect and circular economy expert Duncan Baker-Brown gave the keynote speech “Can Architects Save Planet Earth?” at the AJ100 Awards night. The audience fell silent when Duncan delivered his speech on the Climate Emergency. The full speech can be found below and further reading on the evening can be found here.
Beechwood House is cut into the steep site and terraced over two levels. Sitting comfortably in the landscape, the timber-clad first floor blends in with the surrounding trees.
The proposed layout accommodates a multi-generational family with an emphasis on privacy and generous shared living spaces. Direct access outside is provided from both storeys. The lowest storey of the proposed house, sunk deep into the slope, contains the sleeping quarters. Bedrooms all have access onto an external balcony and views towards the South Downs.
The first floor level contains the main living spaces, including the kitchen, dining room, and living room. Housed under the monopitch roof and with dual aspect views to both the back garden and the South Downs, the living spaces feel lofty and well-connected to the landscape. The open-plan kitchen/dining/ space has direct access to the back garden.
Baker-Brown emphasised that we are at a historic cross-roads; we can either change our attitude towards the environment now or suffer severe consequences in just a few decades. Governments are at last declaring a climate emergency; we may have woken up to our impending doom, but it will take more than stirring declarations to save the day. Decisive, immediate action is required.
Despite such a serious wake-up call, the speech set a positive tone, inspiring the attendees to reconsider how they practice architecture. Baker-Brown covered topics ranging from our unsustainable love for concrete to the idea of designing buildings to be material stores for the future. Although progress has been slow, there is still hope both for the architectural profession and humanity in general. We have the knowledge and power to dramatically reduce the damage we do to the natural world, and to reduce our contributions to global warming.
The keynote speech adds to the ongoing discussion within the profession about architecture’s approach towards tackling climate change. Earlier this year, several RIBA registered architects were arrested during Extinction Rebellion protests, and only a few weeks ago seventeen RIBA Stirling Prize winning architects called on the profession to declare a climate emergency.
Opinion is changing more rapidly than practice, however, which is why Duncan Baker-Brown thought it was essential to set a positive tone and discuss practical ways architects can design with the environment in mind during his keynote address to the AJ100 attendees.
Jamie’s Farm is a charity that combines therapy and farming for disadvantaged young people. Children from all over the country participate in a 5 day residential experience geared towards improving self-esteem and behaviour, and preventing school exclusions. The Lewes residence is their fourth farm, and features stunning views of the South Downs.
BBM took a complex site and carefully rationalised it to serve the needs of Jamie’s Farm. A grade II listed farmhouse was converted into a communal living space, old offices within an agricultural square were converted into flats for staff, and other agricultural areas were repaired until they were able to support a working farm again!
Some of the Jamie’s Farm Ambassadors, who had stayed at the farm during its soft opening period earlier in the year, also attended the event to show the guests what they had learned at their stay there.
For more information on Jamie’s Farm, please click here.
Click here to go to the Architects’ Journal news article on Streat Hill Farmhouse, or continue reading for a more detailed account of the project!
Click here for more information on Streat Hill Farmhouse.
BBM Sustainable Design have received planning permission for a 600m2 new-build house that will be the highest in the South Downs National Park. The proposed new scheme, overlooking the South Downs Way, has been designed with circular economy principles and sits in harmony with the surrounding downlands.
After the original 1950s house was completely destroyed by a fire in 2017, BBM Sustainable Design was appointed to develop a proposal for a replacement dwelling on the same site. The resultant ‘circular’ design of Streat Hill Farmhouse minimizes its impact on the natural environment by re-using and recycling existing materials, reducing waste, and putting in place closed loop systems such as employing a ‘resource map’ to find locally-sourced materials.
Duncan Baker-Brown, BBM co-founder and author of ‘The Re-Use Atlas’, is the director in charge of the project. He says “The re-building of Streat Hill Farm House is a huge opportunity for us to employ many of the closed loop, circular, ideas architects and designers were discussing with us at the recent ‘Waste Zone’ symposium we curated at FutureBuild. We are hoping that the construction process will use a lot less new materials than normal by re-using locally-sourced existing resources and in effect Mining the Anthropocene.”
The visible massing of Streat Hill Farmhouse is reminiscent of local agricultural buildings. However much of the design is tucked underground, with only single story pitched roof forms visible from the Downs. The flat roofs are covered in an organic hay-based meadow roof sown with seeds from the South Downs. The ground floor accommodation grades into the existing topography and vanishes into the landscape. A series of courtyards bring light deep into the plan and create private outdoor spaces sheltered from the wind and other natural elements.
BBM conducted a ‘Resource Mapping’ exercise to determine what construction materials could be sourced close to the site from either waste or renewable sources. Much of the remains of the fire-damaged existing house can be used for the proposed new Streat Hill Farmhouse, and so it will be carefully deconstructed, with any re-usable materials kept on site instead of sent to the tip. Fire-damaged masonry will be crushed and used as aggregate in new floor tiles in collaboration with Local Works Studio, or used as rubble to fill gabion walls. Any remaining low-grade rubble will be crushed for use as hardcore below the slab.
No masonry waste from the existing house will need to leave site; it can be crushed and processed in situ, reducing travel-based pollution. New Chailey stock bricks will be sourced locally, as will the sweet chestnut timber cladding which is supplied from coppiced woodlands within 10 miles of the site. The new house will be detailed to ensure that wherever possible the building is a ‘material bank’ for future developments.
Streat Hill Farmhouse is designed with passive energy design strategies to achieve off-grid living.
